The invention relates to a method and apparatus for positioning a probe or like item in a conduit having a curved portion. More specifically, the invention relates to the use of elongated alignment means having a resilient naturally curved cast thereto for determining the angular orientation of a probe connected thereto within a curved conduit.
It may be desirable to insert various members or probes into elongated conduits and to control the angular (azimuthal) orientation of the probe relative to the conduit. An example of this is seen in the need from time to time to inspect the tubes in a nuclear steam generator. In such instance some type of probe, for instance eddy current, radiographic, ultrasonic, or the like, may need to be inserted into a long tube to a longitudinally remote position therein and the angular orientation of the probe thereat must be controllable or predeterminable if angular directivity of the probe is important. Because of the possible remoteness of the probe position from any point of manual or visual control by an operator and the possibly unknown torsional forces on the probe while in transit, it is difficult to know or control the angular orientation of the probe when it arrives at the selected longitudinal position in the tube.